Study Tools

The House of the Spirits

Isabel Allende

Character List

Themes, Motifs, and Symbols

Clara

Clara is barely aware of the material world. She is most
interested in communicating with spirits and only pays attention
to mundane details such as domestic chores in times of extreme necessity.
Clara is often described as floating through the world. At times,
this refers to her literally levitating, at others it shows the
way she is able to ignore much of what she does not want to deal
with. Clara's temper is extremely calm. She inspires great respect
and devotion in all those who meet her, from Esteban to his sister
Ferula to his foreman Pedro Segundo. Although she can see it in
advance, Clara never fights her destiny. She is not, however, passive.
When she faces a situation that she does not like, she proceeds
to change it in quiet, subtle ways, such as adding little rooms
to the big house on the corner bit by bit until, although it looks
the same on the outside and is completely transformed. Clara's character
changes very little as she grows from a young girl to an old woman.

Blanca

Blanca is very close to her mother and very distant from
her father. She is raised by Clara and Ferula together and quickly
devises illnesses that get her returned home when she is sent away
to school. Unlike her mother, Blanca is quite practical. After her
divorce from Jean de Satigny, and even more so after Clara's death,
Blanca runs the big house on the corner. Like both of her parents,
Blanca is incredibly stubborn. Even while she runs his house, she
never asks for a cent from her father, instead supporting herself
through her ceramics.

Blanca's character is defined primarily by her love for
Pedro Tercero. However, she is not simply attached to him. In fact,
for most of the novel she is separated from Pedro Tercero as much
by her own choice as by outside circumstance. It is precisely the
idea of her love for Pedro Tercero that defines Blanca more than
any actual relationship the two may have.

Alba

Alba is defined primarily through the affects she has
on those around her and through her reactions to their actions.
It is in fact in reaction to her detention, torture, and rape at
the hands of Esteban Garcia that she convinces her grandfather to
help her write the story of their family in order to, as she puts
it, "reclaim the past and overcome terrors of my own."

Esteban Trueba

Esteban is obsessive, violent, and materialistic. He devotes
his life to his business and political careers, determined first
to become rich and then to become powerful. He owes much of his
success to the labor of the peasants at Tres Marias, but he never
treats them with respect or equality. From the time he becomes engaged
to Clara through the end of his life, Esteban is passionately in
love with her. His love for her is so strong it is like an obsession.
It is not, however, enough to curb his temper, even toward her.
Esteban achieves his material goals but is not able to be close
to anyone except his granddaughter Alba. As he ages, Esteban begins
to see the negative outcomes of his violent, selfish actions and
becomes increasingly aware of how lonely he is.